Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Top 3 Netflix documentary recommendations

I tweeted the other day (what’s new) asking if anyone would be interested in reading a post about my fave Netflix watches / recommendations and a couple of peeps seemed into the idea so that’s what I’m doing right now. As if you hadn’t already guessed from this intro and the title of the post. Yep. As a little disclaimer I just want to profess my love for Gossip Girl and say that it’s definitely my all time favourite Netflix watch (who doesn’t want to be Blair Waldorf let’s be real) but I thought it might be more interesting to share documentary recommendations because I’ve learnt so so much from them that I think is super important.

First things first (trying to resist the urge to finish that line with “I’m the realest”) is one that has become pretty popular on the interwebs over the past couple of years, Blackfish. I’ve seen this twice now and was moved by it just as much the second time as the first. For those who have no idea what the film is about; it focuses on the treatment of Orcas and killer whales kept in captivity, namely SeaWorld in America. For any animal lovers (or anyone with a heart) it is difficult to watch parts of the documentary because seeing animals in pain or distressed is not nice but I think it’s really important to expose ourselves to what really goes on for those animals and try and prevent it from happening. I’ve never visited SeaWorld but I really can’t imagine anyone wanting to after watching Blackfish. If you imagine how vast the oceans are that whales would be swimming through if they were living in the wild and then see the space they have whilst in captivity, there’s just no comparison to be made. I’m aware that in a lot of cases captivity for conservation purposes etc is beneficial to animals especially for those that are endangered however when they are separated from their families and taken from their natural habitat in order to perform and make money for the corporations that own them I don’t think it’s justifiable. I don’t know if I’m sounding like a crazy whale-obsesed-lady but truly I hope more and more people watch this documentary and feel as strongly about the issue as I do in order to maybe make a difference.

Vegucated is another documentary that I would highly recommend to absolutely everyone; it has opened my eyes so much to problems in the animal agriculture and dairy industries and the health benefits of becoming vegan! Prior to watching Vegucated I really had no idea about the extreme conditions animals are put through in the animal agribusiness. I obvs wasn’t completely naive to harsh conditions when animals are being raised for meat but Vegucated allowed me to see how this extends to the dairy industry too and how there really is no way to consume animal products without harming them in the process. I know for a lot of people eating meat is something they’ve grown up with, is now part of their routine, something they enjoy the taste of or simply a connivence but I really wholeheartedly hope at least one person who reads this gives the documentary a watch. I’ve become so much more educated on the topic since watching it (and other similar docs, keep reading for most info) and it has changed my entire perception of eating meat and dairy too. I realise I haven’t exactly detailed what the documentary is about- it focuses on 3 adults in America and follows their journeys as they go from meat eaters to vegan as part of a 6 week challenge. It shows the struggles that they go through in doing so and I found it so interesting to follow their progress and become educated on the issues whilst they were learning too. The mix of facts, statistics and information as well as the stories of those transitioning to a vegan diet make a really interesting and enthralling watch. I definitely recommend Vegucated for anyone who doesn’t know much about animal agriculture (this was deffo me before watching it) because it’s truly opened my eyes to the heartbreaking industry. I hope I haven’t made it sound too intense, I just feel so strongly about the topic now.

And finally, most importantly of all (imo), Cowspiracy. This one covers topics fairly similar to that of Vegucated but it looks much further into the environmental effects of animal agriculture in a way that’s really clear. Despite mainstream media etc suggesting that it’s factors such as fossil fuels, greenhouse gases and carbon emissions that are the leading causes for global warming there are in fact so many statistics to show that it is in fact animal farming that has the biggest impact on our planet. One of the main reasons that Amazon rainforest is being cut down at such a rate (1 football pitch per second in size) is to make way for ‘grazing’ land for cattle or for space to grow the grain and resources needed to feed them. It highlights so many important issues and if you were to watch any documentary that I’ve mentioned I would really (really, really) hope it would be this one. It made me question so many practices and parts of the meat and dairy industry that are considered normal and although, like Vegucated, it has some gruesome parts, I think it’s important to expose ourselves to what’s really happening. Obviously it’s not nice to watch animals (or anything/anyone for that matter) in pain but I think if you find it difficult to watch then it shows that maybe we shouldn’t be doing it. If you wouldn’t consider yourself interested in watching / learning about animal agriculture I really would urge you to just take an hour and a half of your time to give it a watch and tweet me about your thoughts afterwards. Scott and I have had many disagreements about veganism and the effects of the meat industry etc (sorry S) so I know there will be tonnes of varying opinions on this one but either way I think it’s important to give it a chance.

This post turned out to be a lot more lengthy than planned, sorry bout' that one! As you can probably tell I feel really strongly about a lot of the issues raised in these documentaries and hope others will also enjoy learning more about them. Please tweet me (@_charl0ttesweb if u don't already follow) if you decide to watch any of them or maybe if I've inspired you to look a little more into the topics raised by them, I would absolutely love to know.